Andraste's Grace and Dust Town's Daughter
by halvwyn
Summary: Adraste's Grace and Dust Town's Daughter is a romance fic between Leliana and my Dwarven Commoner, Edin. THIS IS femxfem!
1. Chapter: 1 title is too long to fit

_This is the first draft of the first chapter of my new Dragon Age: Origins fanfic "Andraste's Grace and Dust Town's Daughter"_  
_It's a Lelianax my Dwarven Commoner OC, Edin. Please bare with me,since I've never written on DA:O, and haven't written fanfictions in about ever. This fanfic will be rapidly updated for a little while. After that, it'll slow down, being updated as I advance in Edin's game play_

CH. 1: The Duster, The Templar and The Newly Found Ally

Edin awoke from her sleep to the comfort of a human-made bed. The young dwarf fought the urge to submit to the calling of rest, slowly sitting up.  
"I see you have awaken. Mother will be pleased." Edin slowly unshielded her eyes to see the chasind woman she, Alistair and the other recruits had met just a few days before.  
"Where am I?" the dwarven girl asked, surprised by the roughness in her usually light, slightly childish voice.  
The woman before her explained where she was and the tragic events at Ostagar. Upon hearing the new, Edin fought back the urge to cry. Ostagar had been the first time she had been treated as an equal, even a superior. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. _I'm a duster,_ she thought to herself, _and dusters don't cry, we're too tough for that._  
"Your friend is waiting outside, he was veered between denial and grief since mother told him." Edin nodded.  
"I'll go to him...and thank you..." Edin paused to think of the woman's name. "Morrigan.  
"You are welcome." the surprised mage said, attempting to cover up the shock in her voice.  
Slowly, Edin swung her feet over the bed and slipped off the too-tall bed. She leaned against the edge as her head stopped spinning before sliding on her leather armor and mace-dagger set. Once fully armored, the dwarf took a moment to take in her surroundings. She was standing in the middle of a one room hovel, save for a few small rooms in the corner, each missing at least one wall. The house seemed barely big enough for one person, save two adults. _At least we had two rooms in Dust Town,_ the duster noted.  
After finishing her examination of the building, Edin headed out to the front door, where she found her fellow warden and the woman who she remembered to be Morrigan's mother talking quietly outside..  
"And here she is, your fellow warden." the seemingly ancient woman stated gesturing with her hand to Edin.  
"I-It's you. I thought you were dead!'  
_Hello to you, too, Alistair, you floundering fool._ The girl bit her tongue, there was no need to make enemies with the only companion she currently had. "It takes more than a few darkspawn to take me down, Alistair. I thought you would have figured that out by now." she let an amused smile grace her features, leaning on a tree for some still needed support. _By the tits of my stone-cursed ancestors I hate being this weak..._  
Edin let her mind wander and Alistair babbled about how worried he had been. She understood it must have been hard for him, but there was a time and a place, neither of which were there and then. "Anyway, we need a plan." Once again, the ex-templar went on a tangent about some "Arlie Mon" character. Brytta shook her head to silence the rambling blonde. "Surely there must be other aid we can call on..."  
Something finally seemed to click in the blonde's mind. About time... the duster thought smugly. "The treaties! We can require aid from the dwarves, elves and mages!"  
The old woman, Flemeth, smiled. "I may be old but mages, elves, dwarves, this Arl Eamon...that seems like an army to me."  
Alistair nodded and turned to face Edin. "So, can we do this? I mean, go to these places, build an army?"  
Edin grinned. "Isn't that what grey wardens do?" she smothered a laugh at the expression her fellow warden currently wore.  
Flemeth also seemed amused. "Well then, are you ready to step up and become grey wardens?" the ostagar survivors each nodded. "Then before you go, I have one last thing I can give you..." As if on queue, Morrigan left the house to join her mother.  
"The stew is boiling, Mother." Flemeth grinned at her daughter and explained that she was sending her daughter along with the wardens. Morrigan seemed equally as shocked as her peers, and just as unhappy with the plan. "This isn't how I wanted this, Mother, I'm not even ready..." Flemeth quickly shut her daughter up before sending her along to get her supplies. Upon the apostate's return, Flemeth made each of the wardens promise to take care of her child, to which Edin took the vow for both of them.  
As the sun began to set, the warden, the templar and their new and unexpected ally set off for Lothering, unsure of whether there would be a city left when they got there.


	2. Chapter 2: Maker's Mercy

CH.2 Maker's Mercy

Edin sat down next to a huge building with pink glass. There was a dark-skinned man rambling about something in common tongue. The young dwarf sighed lightly and scratched the head of her mabari hound, Vidar who had found them on the imperial highway. Vidar laid down by his mistress's feet and curled up, licking his chops after his meal of bandits he'd just enjoyed.  
The dwarf glanced up from brushing through her own sand-coloured locks when Alistair plopped down beside her, setting his sword; which she understood came from Duncan when he joined the warden, down next to him. The giant, as Edin found herself thinking of him of, sighed, clearly still troubled by Ostagar. "Aldrei gefast upp." the dwarf whispered.  
Alistair jumped slightly at her mezzo-soprano voice. "What?" She stared up at the man, her piercing blue eyes piercing him like daggers. "Aldrei gefast upp... it means 'never give up' in dwarven."  
The templar stifled his surprise. The girl in front of him never seemed to be interested in talking with him. Now she was telling him words of support? "Oh..." Alistair thought of how to formulate a proper reply. "Thank you."  
Edin smiled. "You're welcome, I guess." she rubbed her reddening nose. "You know how to travel up here on the surface, I can't have you falling apart on me, ya know?"  
Morrigan laughed at the girl's remark earning a sharp glare from Alistair. "What? T'isn't my fault that you can't control your emotions! You need to get over it, Alistair. The may be dead, but you live and it what you must focus on, the task at hand."  
As Alistair and Morrigan got into yet another fight, Edin let her mind wander back to Dust Town. Though she hated to admit it, she was homesick, and desperately so at this point. Yeah sure, Dust Town wasn't all that great, but it was home. It was her home, her life, and there wasn't a open and changing blue sky ready to fall on top of her. The duster shook her head in an attempt to stop her mind's wandering where it oughtn't. "We should keep going." she decided, pushing herself off the dust covered ground. "It best if we get some more information before moving on." Her two companions nodded in agreement as Vidar slowly stood up and shook himself free of the dust he'd collected from the street.  
If looks could kill, Edin was sure that she'd have been dead there in the middle of the tavern earlier that day. It was unnerving, having an angry mage at your back, and it was ten times worse for Edin. Dwarves couldn't be mages, it was in the blood, and that's just how it was. The closest thing to magic there was in Orzammar was the shaperate in the diamond quarter, there was a better chance at finding a diamond in Dust Town. Morrigan was still questionable at best in the young warden's eyes, and bring stared down by the woman was a bit more than disheartening. Nonetheless, Edin stood by her decision to enlist the chantry girl, Leliana, into the group. There was something about her, thought the duster couldn't place it, and it made her unique.  
Currently, she was watching the Orlesian weave her words in a way to convince her elder to release the man in the cage outside of the village. Edin didn't understand why he couldn't just be let go. She and her companions had done plenty for the village, completely emptying the chantry board outside. It was the the least that they could do, and it spared a life. The old woman finally sighed in surrender. "Very well, Leliana, I will trust your judgement, here's the key, just get him out of here as soon as possible." The Orlesian smiled. "Of course, Revered Mother." With that she took the key from the woman's hand and walked out, quickly followed by Edin and Morrigan with Vidar at their heels.  
The trio arrived at the cage and quickly unlocked the qunari's cage. Upon being freed, the man swore his services to the dwarven girl below him. Sten had to swallow what was left of his pride as he swore fealty to not only a woman, who shouldn't be fighting, but someone no taller than a qunari child. Edin stared up at the man, yet another giant in her life with shock. She never would have expected that she'd meet someone so tall. The duster doubted he'd even fit into most of the buildings back in Orzammar. The man's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "Could we take our leave? I would like to be rid of this place." Edin nodded and signaled the others to head out. The Orlesian and mage walked ahead of the group, continuing their banter about religion of some sort. _It's all bogus._ Edin thought quietly to herself. _It's all because they've lost connection with their ancestors._ The dwarf was once more forced from her thoughts when Leliana walked headlong into a villager. "I don't know if you killed the king, and Maker forgive me, I don't care. But that bounty on your head would fill a lot of bellies."  
Edin grinned, knowing full well what was about to happen. "Time for some more target practice!" she called out cheerfully, pulling her mace and dagger out of their holders on her back and summoning her inner berserker. _If only Rica could see me now..._ she laughed quietly at the thought of her older sister's face, then turning to her first target, a blonde man in a yellow-coloured tunic. The man, wielding a single, chipped and relatively dull, dagger charged at her with a what she assumed was supposed to be a war cry. The dwarf quickly disposed of him with a flurry of alternating attacks from each hand. Edin gasped slightly as another of the men collapsed behind her with a well placed arrow by Leliana lodged in his back. The duster waved cheerfully to her savior in thanks before running to help Morrigan dispatch the final three men with Vidar racing ahead. _Good dog, Vidar._ she thought to herself before dispatching the last of the men and sheathing her weapons. "Well that was fun!" Edin smiled bright rubbing the bottom of her now bloody nose with the back of her fist.  
"Here." Morrigan said with a sigh, throwing a scrap of fabric to her comrade. Edin had sent Alistair ahead with the Qunari, Sten, to set up camp. The least she could do in thanks of removing the pest was to help her stop the bleeding. "Put the cloth under your nose and pinch the bridge at the same time." The girl did as she was told as she continued towards the imperial highway.  
"Hey! It works! Thank you!" Edin grinned and tossed the cloth back to Morrigan, who slipped it into one of the various pouches on her belt.  
As the group continued towards the imperial highway that was looming above them, they heard shouts of two males, one adult and a perhaps teenaged boy. Edin felt a sadistic grin fill her face as she felt her taint-infused blood begin to boil. There were darkspawn up there, and she ready to kill every one of those son's of bitches. Edin once more awakened the berserker inside her (she knew full well she'd feel it in the morning) and flew up the incline towards the assault. There were only a few darkspawn there, much to the dwarf's chagrin. She made quick work of the genlock, hurlock and hurlock alpha before turning to see the duo she and her group had just saved.  
"Thank you kindly for yer' help miss." Edin was stunned to see two dwarves in front of her. There were boxes of what seemed to be goods from their wagon strewn about the highway. _Merchant caste? Why are they on the surface?_  
"It wasn't a problem at all." she managed to cover up her shock with a smile, wiping darkspawn blood off her cheek.  
"It'd be good to have formidable folk like you on the road. Mind telling us which way your goin'? Perhaps we're headed the same way."  
Edin was dying to bring them along. It had been to long without another of her people, especially one that didn't care that she was a brand. "I'm a grey warden, we were just passing through on our way North." The older of the two dwarves in front of her frowned slightly. "But you're welcome to join us!"  
"Grey Wardens, huh? It seems like a bit too much excitement for us." He then turned to who Edin assumed was his son. "Come on then, boy, let's get this mess cleaned up."  
The girl's heart sank to the white pavement under her feet as she turned to face the two other women behind her. She had one chance to bring along someone to talk to, and she blew it by telling the truth. She fell forward slightly as ever loyal Vidar gently pushed her towards her team with his head. The blonde flashed a sad smile at the dog before walking towards the group.  
Once she made it over to the group, Leliana gently patted the girl's back before heading down the path. Edin quickly caught up to her and led the group off to find where Alistair and Sten has made camp.  
_


	3. Ch 3: Merchants and A Coin's Mission

CH. 3 Two Merchants and A Coin's Mission.

Edin was half asleep by the time they travelers made it to camp. The two men had done an amazing job of hiding the campsite, so well that the three women and Vidar could barely find it themselves. The duster had never been so happy to see a fire with a log for a seat. The girl stumbled over and plopped down on the log with a content sigh. Spotting her lute, Leliana went about laying out her small amount of belongings before starting on a simple soup for dinner.

The group was fairly close together, everyone crowding the fire, but there was one member of the caravan that wasn't anywhere near. Edin noticed the absence of the group's mage and set off to find where the woman had disappeared to.

Morrigan was busy making herself at home in the far corner of the campsite. She had built a small teepee-like hut by the cliffside. The mage even went as far as to stoke her own fire so she wouldn't have to share with the rest of the group. Edin did her best to hide her amazement at what the mage had managed in such a short amount of time as she approached the woman. "Hey." the dwarf managed a smile when Morrigan turned from her herbs and poultices to face her.

"Yes? Can I help you, Warden?"

Edin couldn't help but feel a bit upset. They'd been traveling together for almost a month and the mage still wouldn't use her name. "Please Morrigan, call me Edin, it's my name, so use it." The taller woman sighed and waved off the dwarf to continue what she was doing. Edin frowned slightly and started heading towards the camp fire again.

About half-way to the campfire, two wagons caught Edin's eye. She had no idea how she had missed them earlier, but she couldn't ignore them now. Edin silently crept towards the wagon closest to her. As she got closer, the girl pulled out her dagger. "Careful with that, Sandal!" Edin nearly dropped her blade in shock. That voice...it was the voice of the dwarven merchant from the Imperial highway.

"...hello...?" The girl heard a box crash to the ground and she fought to keep a straight face as she rounded the wagon to face the two dwarves. "Am I bothering you?" she asked to the elder.

"Not at all!" The older man floundered over the awkwardness of the matter. Edin sheathed her dagger and leaned against the wagon as the man in front of her stumbled out his excuse for following her and introductions for the two of them.

Edin smiled at the pair. "I'm Edin, I'd go through the whole 'blessings on your house' bullcrap, but neither of us have a house."

The older man, Bodahn, stared wide-eyed at the girl. This was really what a casteless was like? He hadn't noticed the brands on her right cheek and forehead till now._ By the name of my ancestors' ancestors...if this is what all casteless are like, what a fool I've been to judge..._ "Yoo, hoo! Mister Merchant Dude! Are you okay?" The brand was up in the merchant's face, waving her hands about to grab his attention. Bodahn noticed his adopted son, Sandal, practically in tears with laughter. He managed a smile. "Of course, warden. Thank you for allowing us to stay you."

The warden girl smiled. "No problem, I'm lucky to have company among these cloud-heads. And besides," Edin turned to Sandal, who was currently enchanting her mace with a lightning rune,"Sandal here is as cute as a little baby nuglet!" she grinned at Sandal, who was deeply focused in his work.

Bodahn smiled fondly at the boy. He was always happy, but he seemed to shine when he was able to work on enchantments. This seemed especially to be the case with the 'nice, pretty lady', as Sandal tended to call her. While Sandal worked devotedly to the mace's enchanting, the other two dwarves talked of Orzammar. Edin was eager to learn of as much news from her home as possible, and was nearly silent at times.

After a long while of chatting, Edin felt her tent calling to her. She had completely forgotten about the other wagon. She shrugged of her worry, deciding on just waiting to see if it was there in the morning. If it still sat, she would deal with it and it's driver the next day. "I'll see you both tomorrow." the dwarf turned to Sandal. "And don't work yourself too hard, you hear, Sandal?" With a small nod from the boy, Edin stumbled her way towards her tent, collapsing onto the mat that had been laid out for her.

The following morning, Edin rolled out of her tent to the sun beaming down on the camp. She had been kept up most of the night by nightmares. The archdemon was summoning the horde, and she didn't know how to stop it. Despite, Alistair's comforting words the night before, the young dwarf still felt on edge. Dwarves weren't supposed to dream, everyone knew that, it was unsettling to do so, especially with the lack of positives in her visions.

Edin slowly willed herself to approach the fire pit, where most of the caravan was already settled, waiting for breakfast. To the warden, it seemed Bodahn had already started making his profit selling food supplies to the group. As the girl plopped down sleepily on a log, a bright voice with a slight Orlesian accent spoke up. "Good morning, _m'amie_!"

She looked up at the girl with an attempt at a scowl. "It is too damned early to be that cheerful, Leliana."

Leliana pouted slightly, not raising her gaze from the food she was cooking. "No need to be so grumpy, Edin..." The dwarf flashed an apologetic smile at the rogue. She wasn't awake yet, and spent much too long a time with Bodahn the night before. She looked over at the the wagon where the two dwarven men were chatting happily when she noticed the other wagon. _Shit! I completely forgot the other sodding wagon!_ The girl shot up, earning a slight swoon before she adjusted and raced over to the other wagon, leaving her teammates speechless.

As she rounded the unknown wagon, Edin found herself stopping just short of walking into a dark haired man. His clothes were dust-covered and he seemed to have just gotten up himself. "There you are, Warden!" He had a heavy accent, though the dwarven girl couldn't place it. "You've proven to be a difficult woman to find." Edin nodded slightly, staying alert in case the man tried anything.

"What do you want?"

The man looked shocked. "You mean Duncan didn't mention me? Levi of the coins?" The man, Levi, sighed when she shook her head no. "You see, Duncan,bless his heart made a promise to help me. However, poor Duncan isn't with us any longer, see?"

Edin was visibly unamused. "So, you want me to make up the debt? What exactly is it that Duncan promised you?"

Levi flushed slightly at the bluntness of the girl's words. The man had never dealt with dwarves and had no clue that they were so upfront with their wording. Well you see, my grandmother was Warden Commander during Maric's time..."

The man's story ended a while later and for once, the dwarf who always had something to say was silent. "um...well, I'm going to say that we'll help you. If you were truly Duncan's friend, I think he'd want it. If not, I'll kill you." She grinned as Levi swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Thank you, Warden." Edin smiled childishly and ran back over to the main fire pit where her breakfast was ready and waiting for her. "Oi! We're gonna have to head North at some point, okay?!"


End file.
